Elcano Brazil Uses NaviTab to Lead Digitization Wave in South American Shipping

Digitizing the navigational publications of its entire fleet is not just a matter of convenience for Elcano Brazil. The move is part of a strategy towards minimizing the company’s impact on the environment and achieving ISO14001 accreditation. Taking the lead from its Madrid-based parent company, Empresa Naviera Elcano, which was awarded ISO14001 in 2017, Elcano Brazil has had its sights set on this goal for some time.

Elcano manages and operates a fleet of 21 vessels that globally transport oil, chemical and dry cargoes, as well as liquefied gases. They plan to move all navigational books and documents from every vessel onto NaviTab, StormGeo’s eReader tablet and content indexing solution. This change will minimize the harmful effects to the environment that come with constantly posting publications and updates to its global fleet. Nautical Management Supervisor Captain Victor Molina says these effects “are not minor.”

“We are using NaviTab to increase the efficiency of our operations and reduce the risk of non-compliance, but perhaps even more importantly, we are aware of our responsibility toward the environment,” he says. NaviTab also has an optimized search engine that automatically locates the latest available publications and licenses.

Replacing a 6 meter stack of publications with NaviTab

As a virtual library for continuously updated maritime publications, logbooks and documents, the tablet saves vessels an average of 30% per year on publication purchase costs. A vessel has on average 102 paper books onboard which, if piled up, would reach up to six meters tall. Digitization of these publications reduces the environmental impact of every vessel. Replacing heavy books and documents with a lightweight tablet also saves on freight fees.

Elcano Brazil has also installed Neptune, StormGeo’s solution for updating charts and publications, onto its entire fleet. Combining this with the addition of NaviTab enables the digitization of the company’s fleet.

Global Spread of Digitization

Elcano is not the only South American shipping company to realize the environmental benefits of digitization, says StormGeo Brazil’s South American representative Cristhian Marshall.

“We have noticed more and more shipping companies taking the initiative to become fully digital in the past year. Our knowledge and technology contribute greatly to this cause—bringing solutions necessary for digitalization to this market. As such, we are looking forward to some exciting partnerships in this region,” he says.

“NaviTab can help with some of the uniquely South American challenges that shipping companies face in this region,” adds Marshall. This includes long delays at customs due to crew not being up to date with rapidly changing regulations between countries. This puts companies at risk of fines and other serious penalties for not having the correct information on board.

“As this is a huge continent, shipment periods can be very long. With NaviTab, companies are relieved of the burden of ensuring they are not breaking the ever-changing regulations between and within countries,” concludes Marshall.